Spring is here, the sun is out and that means festival season is just around the corner for party-starting brass ensemble Horns Of Leroy.
The Melbourne-based group bring their boisterous New Orleans stylings to both Mullum Music Festival (NSW) and Queenscliff Music Festival (VIC).
Trumpeter Travis Woods says the band's anticipation is high. “We're pretty excited for both of these festivals,” Travis says.
“The band hasn't played them before; we do have a couple of members who have played them before with other groups but from what I hear, especially Mullum is one of the greatest festivals.
“It's so much fun and such a great vibe. We've been lucky enough to play all sorts of festivals all around Australia, but I'm really looking forward to these ones for sure.
"We've got some new tunes that we'll be bringing out and we've got a single coming out within the next month or two, which will be released just in time for these festivals.”
The latest release from Horns Of Leroy is their 'Lift Your Game' EP that came out at the beginning of the year. “We wrote these songs while we were on tour and performed them as well and started getting really great responses from that,” Travis says.
“Then we had a bit of a shift in terms of how we were playing and the music we were playing as well; it became a little different and had a bit more of our own sound as well, incorporating everything we'd done before.”
One of the tracks from 'Lift Your Game', 'Let Me Go', features the guest vocals of singer Thando, for who Travis sings the highest praises. “Thando is insane, she is wild, she is going to be huge,” he says.
“She is just phenomenal. She fits so well into the band as well and we've done quite a few gigs with her over the past year as well. Every time we can, we get her to come play with us and it's always outrageous. Just check her out.”
Travis says the upcoming festival performances for Horns Of Leroy will be a chance for the band to road test some of the new material they've been working for another release, and that their shows will also feature some guest appearances.
“We've got some new tunes that we'll be bringing out,” he says.
“We've got a single coming out within the next month or two, which will be released just in time for these festivals. There's a few special guests playing with us as well; Thando of course will be joining us, but we've got some other friends up there too.”
Horns Of Leroy keep the new tunes coming with Travis saying the band is looking at heading into the studio next year to work on their next full-length album. “We're planning a full album recording early next year as well,” he says.
“We had a lot of fun with these two new tunes and wanted to get them out as soon as possible. We just want to play music and have a good time.”
